#FeesMustFall leader Mcebo Dlamini vows that Wits will remain closed

Mcebo Dlamini – leading the vanguard of the #FeesMustFall movement at the University of the Witwatersrand – has vowed to ensure that the institution remains closed.

This after Wits released a statement on Saturday declaring that the academic programme would continue on Monday.

The student leader, speaking to News24, described the position of the university as “shocking and unreasonable”.

“It says to us as students that we must continue with our fight because they have shown their true colours,” Dlamini said.

“They have shown that apartheid still exists in this country. The evil system has reared its head and we will continue the fight to restore the dignity of a black child,” he said on Sunday.

He said that the statement read like one that would have been issued by the apartheid state.

“There is no way they will open.
On Friday we asked to engage and we are still waiting for them and up until today they have not met with anyone. We are willing to negotiate and they are operating in bad faith.

“We cannot find a solution when the university says come and let’s talk but they are already waving an axe at us but saying they come in peace,” he said.

The statement said that the resumption of the academic programme would be for the benefit of all students.

“This is for the benefit of all students – undergraduate and postgraduate, local and international, full-time and part-time and all staff – academic, professional, administrative and international,” the university’s council said in a statement released late on Saturday night.

Wits said it had taken the decision to ensure that learning, teaching, research and administrative activities continued at the institution. It also wanted to ensure the successful completion of each student’s academic year.

A revised calendar for the rest of the 2016 academic had been approved by the Senate as well as a contingency plan to ensure that examinations were written. – News24